The town of Picher, Ok. sits nestled between mountains of chat, a local term for mining waste that contains lead, zinc and cadmium contaminants. The piles are less than 10-percent of their original size, just like the population of Picher, which once exceeded 30,000 people.
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A tale of two cities
"If this situation sat within 50 miles of Topeka, Lawrence, Manhattan or Kansas City, this problem would have been taken care of immediately. Here, you are so far away, nobody knows about you." —75-year-old Treece resident Bob Shoemaker
March 20, 2007
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